Pascal Gielen // No Culture No Europe

On the Foundations of Politics

Over the past decade, the European Union has fallen into a drawn-out crisis, politically as well as economically. In this book, the authors argue that analyses of this crisis miss an important element: culture. Faith in politics, like faith in a European currency, is first and foremost a cultural issue. Democracy is a matter of political culture, just as good economic relations are a matter of economic culture. So, culture as a shared frame of reference and as something that lends meaning to people’s lives is not the superstructure but the very foundation or substructure of any society.

Its essays analyze and describe both theoretical models and straightforward, concrete and provocative examples that clarify this central thesis: culture is an essential, binding fabric of investigating and assessing our identity, our human activities and how we can critically reflect on these. What would happen if culture succeeded in giving the European project a completely different meaning or sense?

Contributors: Rosi Braidotti, Kurt De Boodt, Pascal Gielen, Barend van Heusden, Andreas Kinneging, György Konrád, Thijs Lijster, Isabell Lorey, Jan Masschelein, Anoek Nuyens, Maarten Simons, Naema Tahir
Publisher: Valiz
Series: Antennae
224 pages
14cm × 21cm
Format: Paperback
2015
ISBN: 9789492095039
20,00 €
Login to purchase
Share: